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County Star Admits The Importance Of Finding Right BalanceMonday, February 23rd, 2015

Moeen Ali admits "finding the balance" is key to his aggressive approach after scoring his maiden World Cup century for England in the Pool A win over Scotland in Christchurch today.

The Worcestershire all-rounder and his team-mates bounced back from the horror show against New Zealand to record their first win in the competition.

Moeen raced to three figures off 91 balls to put him in a confident mood for England's next clash with Sri Lanka.

The 27-year-old said: "The most important thing is we won and it's good to score a 100 in a winning side but on a personal note it was good to spend some time in the middle and just bat without any negativity.

"Recently I've been pre-meditating quite a bit in my approach and ended up playing shots that were probably not there.

"Today was about reacting to the ball and really not thinking too much about it. I think the way I play means at times I'll give my wicket away.

"It's finding the balance, which ball to hit and pick and choose my bowlers a bit more. I feel I'm learning quite a lot on this trip about that and hopefully I can learn even more and continue to perform now."

Moeen accepts it was crucial for England to bounce back from the performance against the Black Caps.

He said: "We were disappointed to lose that game, the fact we didn't compete. New Zealand are very strong. For me it was about staying together and looking forward now and trying to get over that (defeat) as much as I can.

"Obviously the defeat hurt but I try to stay and positive as I can even though it was tough to find positives after a defeat like that. You've got to look to go again and pick yourself up."

Moeen also picked up two wickets but said: "I didn't feel I bowled that well. I've not had a bowl in a match for a couple of weeks. It was nice to get some wickets and get 10 overs in."